Fernando Torres was worth £70m, says Rafael Benitez

Fernando Torres was worth £70m, says Rafael Benitez

Former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has revealed a £70m deal for Fernando Torres was mooted last year, and that he would like to manage the club again.

Striker Torres joined Chelsea on Monday for a British record fee of about £50m, but he had been valued even higher.

"I think last year we were talking about £70m," Benitez said in an interview for the BBC's Football Focus.

The 50-year-old Spaniard also said he would be keen to manage the Anfield club again at some stage in the future.

Torres moved to Chelsea on transfer deadline day, although the Blues had reportedly made a bid in May 2010. Despite a knee injury at the end of last season, he featured in Spain's World Cup-winning campaign.

"People were talking about maybe you receive an offer from another club. They were talking about £70m," added Benitez.

Of Torres' transfer deadline day move to Stamford Bridge, Benitez said: "He was not playing at the same level the last time, but he is still a very good player. It is big money but could [have been] even better."

Benitez was sacked by Italian side Inter Milan in December only six months after it was announced he had left Liverpool by mutual consent following six years in charge.

He guided the Reds to Champions League success in 2005 and an FA Cup win the following year, and was in charge when Torres signed from Atletico Madrid for £20m in the summer of 2007.

Roy Hodgson was appointed as successor after Benitez's departure from Anfield, but he only lasted six months before Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish was drafted in until the end of the season.

With Liverpool's form improving under the Scot, and the club's owners spending the Torres cash on strikers Andy Carroll (£35m) and Luis Suarez (£22m), Dalglish looks set for a longer stay.

But Benitez said: "To be manager of Liverpool is a dream for me. This time, I know that Kenny is doing really well.

"I have to wait and keep watching games, but if you say to me in the future would you like to be manager, for sure, no doubt about this. When, that is the question. I have to move forward, anyway."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9387118.stm

Agree, I think he is, when Torres is on form hes the best striker in the world no question.

However, seen as it was rumoured he had a clause in his contract which meant a buy out of 50m was possible providing Liverpool didn't reach the champions league, he would have therefore gone in the summer anyway for the same price.

Best all round shipping him out now and getting in two quality strikers who want the shirt.

Well sadly, he is worth nothing to us now.

Well sadly, he is worth nothing to us now.

Don't know he may be wortth the feel good factor of sending any shirts with his name on to Africa.

Hate to admit but I agree with Rafa, a fit and firing Torres must be worth £70m considering Ronaldo went for £80m

Rafa interview was brilliant said he would love to be Liverpool manager again said Carroll and Suarez were very good players

The support for Rafa from the Liverpool fans must have touched him really deeply, I mean lets be honest here , you never hear him speak so affectionately about Real Madrid, Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia or Inter, it shows that we really are a special club, you only have to look at the Likes of Thompson, Dalglish, Ian St John even Luis Garcia to show the impact that this club and the fans have on our former employee's.

Sad thing about that is, Torres will most likely live to regret his decision, he went from Hero to Zero over night when he could have quite easily become a legend and went down in history as one of the greatest ever players to wear a red shirt.

Sad really sad.

He has been F***ing conned by his agent that Chelsea are a big club the only thing big about them is Romans wallet

The support for Rafa from the Liverpool fans must have touched him really deeply, I mean lets be honest here , you never hear him speak so affectionately about Real Madrid, Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia or Inter, it shows that we really are a special club, you only have to look at the Likes of Thompson, Dalglish, Ian St John even Luis Garcia to show the impact that this club and the fans have on our former employee's.

Sad thing about that is, Torres will most likely live to regret his decision, he went from Hero to Zero over night when he could have quite easily become a legend and went down in history as one of the greatest ever players to wear a red shirt.

Sad really sad.

Is right.

Fernando Torres was a legend in the making. Like I stated, Fernando said when he arrived "I want to be remembered in 20 years time like how Kenny Dalglish" but sorry, Fernando, you will always be rememebered as that selfish, fraud, lying and money grabbing c**t.

He will never be a legend here and he's hardly going to be remembered as a legend at Chelsea.

Another shitty headline that misleads.

"I think last year we were talking about £70m"

Clearly there is a fundamental difference between when a player is playing well, and when he isn't and hands in a transfer request.

In any case, obvious that the previous owners valued him at £70M.  They did seem to have a problem with valuations.

Especially when they 'valued' LFC (a club that was in £450M of debt) as worth $1 billion.

Epic swindlers.

This is more important news.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/04/liverpool-owners-longterm-deal-kenny-dalglish

This is more important news.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/04/liverpool-owners-longterm-deal-kenny-dalglish

. ...and that's why it's got it's own thread here: http://www.lfcreds.com/reds/index.php?topic=36301.0

The headline says it all for me. The lying c**t WAS worth £70 million, before he embarked on a 12-18 month run of injuries, bad form, lack of interest, self preservation, disrespect and whinging and b***ard moaning!.

Torres is gone, Rafa is gone, Kenny is in charge now, let's focus on us and nobody else.

. ...and that's why it's got it's own thread here: http://www.lfcreds.com/reds/index.php?topic=36301.0

The headline says it all for me. The lying c**t WAS worth £70 million, before he embarked on a 12-18 month run of injuries, bad form, lack of interest, self preservation, disrespect and whinging and b***ard moaning!.

Torres is gone, Rafa is gone, Kenny is in charge now, let's focus on us and nobody else.

Who is doing the whining and the moaning here?
Why is it that Rafa feels the need to keep jumping up like a Jack In The Box making comments.
Yes. Probably worth more if we had had the real Torres not the...

 

"I really couldnt give sh*t but wait its the Chelsea game" Torres.

Dont forget the motto. The lower the fee the higher the wages.
Money For Nothing ... That kid aint dumb.

Anyway Rafa. Just on the number of games you could count on your hand the King has got us to 7th.

Remember that number?

7

"To be manager of Liverpool is a dream for me. This time, I know that Kenny is doing really well.

"I have to wait and keep watching games, but if you say to me in the future would you like to be manager, for sure, no doubt about this. When, that is the question. I have to move forward, anyway."

Amazing I'm happy with Kenny and the job should be his for how long he wants, but if he decides to step down, then there's only one man I would like to have as our manager, and his first name is Rafael.

Who is doing the whining and the moaning here?
Why is it that Rafa feels the need to keep jumping up like a Jack In The Box making comments.
Yes. Probably worth more if we had had the real Torres not the...

 

"I really couldnt give sh*t but wait its the Chelsea game" Torres.

Dont forget the motto. The lower the fee the higher the wages.
Money For Nothing ... That kid aint dumb.

Anyway Rafa. Just on the number of games you could count on your hand the King has got us to 7th.

Remember that number?

Sorry mate but why do you jump up on rafa quickly when he only speaks good of the club and fans? Why?

Anyway Rafa. Just on the number of games you could count on your hand the King has got us to 7th.

Remember that number?

Indeed, it's from that song 'In Istanbul, we....'

Great number! how could he forget?!

Torres of 2009 was easily worth £70m - he was fit, firing on all cylinders and had sell-on value as he was only 24.

Torres of 2011 was worth maybe £35m - dodgy fitness record, lost half a yard of pace, off-form, with little sell-on value at almost 27

We got a great deal getting Suarez (23) and Carroll (22) for him

Who is doing the whining and the moaning here?
Why is it that Rafa feels the need to keep jumping up like a Jack In The Box making comments.
Yes. Probably worth more if we had had the real Torres not the...

 

"I really couldnt give sh*t but wait its the Chelsea game" Torres.

Dont forget the motto. The lower the fee the higher the wages.
Money For Nothing ... That kid aint dumb.

Anyway Rafa. Just on the number of games you could count on your hand the King has got us to 7th.

Remember that number?

Exactly - Rafa's just publicising himself in the hope that he'll be considered to come back to liverpool in the summer. That ship has sailed i'm afraid.

Anyway Rafa. Just on the number of games you could count on your hand the King has got us to 7th.

Remember that number?

While you're busy remembering numbers here's two names you have probably forgotten all about.. Hicks & Gillett.

For the record Rafa got us to second and finishing seventh was a consequence of Hicks, Gillett and Purslow sabotaging the squad, restricting team selections (to prevent activation of appearance clauses in contracts) and providing Rafa with a negative transfer budget.

Rafa struggled with all of that and fought tooth and nail to preserve the spirit of this club and for the fans against a twisted media and owners.

It will for ever bring shame upon some "so called" fans that they couldn't see past S*n owning Murdoch's anti Liverpool agenda and betrayed Rafa. What those fans brought upon Liverpool was near administration, near relegation and Roy Hodgson. Fortunately these "so called" fans keep a low profile these day because everyone knows and understands the consequences of their betrayal and thank God we had Kenny and FSG to get us out of the mire.
 
I'm delighted that Kenny is here and that FSG are showing him the kind of backing that Hicks/Gillett/Purslow never showed to Rafa. I just wish that Rafa had been given the backing that he needed and we could have avoided the nightmare that those "so called" fans contributed to.

Rafa was dignified and respectful as ever to Kenny and you can bet he will be delighted to see us back on the right track because he puts Liverpool FC and the fans first. He said that he would take the job again after Kenny and I would be more than happy to see him back here and properly backed by responsible owners.

One thing is for sure Rafa is one of us, always will be and will always be welcome back which is more than I can say for those "so called" fans.  

YMWA

For me , the biggest thing with regard to his value , is how unprofessional he has been !!

We all knew he was frustrated , things weren't moving quickly enough for him , so to all intents and purposes he went on strike.

No he didn't refuse to play but in many games , he may as well  have done that, because he just didn't try !

He certainly didn't earn his salary. But he was our golden boy and we made excuses. The view is much clearer now!!

I don't care how frustrated he was , we had every right to expect him to give his all. He didn't.

His sulking affected everyone. He's supposed to be a professional . NEVER !!  Doctor's and nurses are professionals , they must get fed up and frustrated . Do they sulk , not try  , no they get on with it !! Plus they don't earn over £100,000 a week !

So Chelsea paid £50m for a player who is not professional in any way.

Fantastic player when things are going his way, a liability when they're not.

I think we got the better deal !!

Agree, I think he is, when Torres is on form hes the best striker in the world no question.

Have to disagree with this statement. I suppose it all depends on what you mean by striker, but if we're talking forwards i'm not convinced at all. I think now he's left we can look at it more objectively.

Ahead of him I would have: Messi, Ronaldo, Villa definitely. Then probably Drogba and Eto'o.

Hate to admit but I agree with Rafa, a fit and firing Torres must be worth £70m considering Ronaldo went for £80m

Hate to say it but Ronaldo was a different class from Torres.

He was incredible, single handedly won the scum at least 2 premierships. Pace, strength, skill, incredible in the air, could score from 40 yards, and most importantly never ever got injured. Best footballer I've seen live by a stretch.

To be honest, it doesn't matter what he was worth last summer, it's irrelevant.

The only things that count are his form this season, and the fact he wanted to leave three days before the transfer window closed.

All things considered I am happy with the amount we received for him given the circumstances.